ANI-MOVIES, *Bolt

When your initial movie posters have non-DreamWorks characters smirking and giving the raised eyebrow look, then you know Disney is struggling by giving in to the promotional tactics of their competitors. Although the 2008 movie was Disney's fourth fully-CGI theatrical production not to done by Pixar and done just before the company received higher success with their next 3D movie Tangled, Bolt did manage to make twice its budget back at the box office. Directed by Big Hero 6's Chris Williams and Zootopia's Byron Howard, this was an original screenplay co-written by Dan Fogelman not based on any existing story. The best way to describe Bolt is that it's The Truman Show blended with The Incredibles, but from the perspective of common animals. Aside from the positive reviews it received, Bolt never really solidified itself as one of Disney's mainstays as most of their releases in the late 2000's didn't gain much traction. The movie didn't even get its own crappy made-for-video sequel.

A dog named Bolt grew up with his young owner Penny and believing that he is an augmented canine with superpowers who protects Penny as they try to save the world along with Penny's father from the evil Dr. Calico and his army of high-tech henchmen. In reality, Penny and the other characters are all actors with Bolt being the only one who doesn't know that it isn't real which is part of the director's intent so Bolt will believe that everything in it is real to get the best performance out of an animal. This is good idea, although it leaves Bolt with a Buzz Lightyear syndrome where he thinks he really is the superhero character he's playing on the show, and that his owner Penny is constantly in danger being attacked by spies and evil cats. Penny wants to be able to just take her dog home once for the weekend and treat him like a regular pet, but the network won't allow it, as well as wanting more realism in their action show about a superpowered dog, so they also decide it should end its next episode on a cliffhanger. This leaves Bolt thinking that Penny is really in danger and he sets out to find her. After getting talked into roping along a bullying alley cat by some pigeons, Bolt has the idea that his new captive of Mittens is in league with Dr. Calico as all cats are supposed to be. They get another stray in Rhino, a trailer park hamster who is a huge fan of Bolt's show. Mittens manages to clue Bolt that his life as a super-animal while convincing him that being a regular dog is as good. After finally reaching Hollywood, Bolt is heartbroken to find that Penny has gotten a replacement dog for the show, even though Mittens convinces him that she still loves him. Bolt goes back just as the entire TV studio sets on fire and saves Penny. Penny's mother has had enough and has them quit the show, taking Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino home with them and the closing credits shows them enjoy everyday family life.

Bolt was an original idea, but copies many tropes from the Toy Story movies, so Disney is just basically ripping off its own properties, even though they would do this worse years later with Wish. The entire movie gives off the impression of a cartoon short from the 60s which has been stretched out to a feature-length production. It isn't bad, but there wasn't anything significant about it to make it more memorable. Evan having John Travolta and Miley Cyrus voicing the main characters doesn't really help move the needle much. The experimental new format of CGI animation that was utilized helped Disney advance to take on more realistic models such as in Tangled or Frozen. Bolt is an inoffensive but still enjoyable film which helped pay the bills to keep the lights on at Disney so they could make grandeur productions, even though this content is original it doesn't help when Disney just forgets about it years later.